


Follow the Sun

by Passions



Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-12-11
Packaged: 2018-03-18 14:25:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3572972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passions/pseuds/Passions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Drunken meetings with a stranger while technically trespassing on their property isn't exactly the most common course for a courtship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Sansa yawned as she made her way from her bedroom down the stairs, phone pressed to her ear and Lady’s claws clicking along the hardwood behind her. She slid the back door open to let Lady out and turned to curl up on the couch as she returned to her conversation with her sister.

“I’m sorry for calling so late, Sis. I completely forgot about the time difference.”

Sansa laughed, she could practically hear Arya’s eyes rolling at her own forgetfulness. “Hey, no problem. You know I like hearing from you. How are you enjoying Vietnam?”

“It’s uh – it’s been really really good. We’re here for a couple more days and then we’re heading over to Singapore. We’ve got a few more stops we want to make before we head home, but we should be back in a couple of months.”

“I thought you were planning to be gone for another six months?” Arya had really been enjoying her world travels, Sansa was surprised she was coming home earlier than she had planned.

There was a quiet over the connection for a moment, but one that sounded full of something. “Yeah, well, that’s kind of the reason I forgot about time zones just now. I uh – Gendry proposed. We’re getting married.” The words were said calmly, matter-of-factly, but the warmth and joy that infused them told Sansa just how happy her sister was.

She had been stunned into silence, but her excitement for Arya and her boyfriend – fiancé now – quickly overrode that and a wide smile bloomed on her face. “Arya, that’s amazing! Congratulations!”

“You absolutely can’t tell mom. I’ve only told you and I’ll tell Jon but I want to leave it at that for now. I know mom would kill me, and Gendry too probably, if we just eloped, which is why we’re coming home earlier. But we still want a bit more time to travel first, a bit more time by ourselves, get used to the idea of it y’know? And you know mom would be calling every day if she knew.”

Sansa smiled, warmth rising in her chest as it always did when she thought of her mother. Different as they were Sansa knew Arya loved their mother as much as she herself did. “You know she wouldn’t push you to come home if you really didn’t want to.”

“Nah, she’d just be sad, and that would be worse.” A little sigh came over the connection. “To be honest though, I think I’d be sad if we eloped too. I mean, I never really thought of getting married, you know that. I always thought it was dumb, unnecessary. Too much fussing for something so unimportant. But being with Gendry is important to me. And much as I complain about you and mom and everyone else, you’re important to me too.” Sansa thought she heard a bit of a sniffle before Arya continued. “Besides. I don’t have the planning skills to pull off a birthday party, let alone a wedding. I’m going to need you. Gods, I have no idea what I’m doing.”

Sansa couldn’t stop grinning, but she felt a pang in her heart for how confused her little sister must be right now, half a world away from her family and getting ready to step into something she had never even thought to consider. “Hey, hey now. There’s nothing to worry about. You know you love Gendry and that he loves you, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you want to spend the rest of your life with him?”

Arya snorted. “Yeah. Gods know why, but everything would be a lot lonelier without the big dumb ox.”

Sansa laughed. “Well then you’ll be fine. I’ve been planning weddings since I was four, so we’ve got a lot of backlog to work from. Mom and I will help you figure everything out.”

“Gods, Sansa. How am I getting married before you? Like, who in the world would ever expect that to happen?”

Sansa felt tears pricking at the backs of her eyes. Thinking about her past relationships didn’t tend to bring happy memories. “Hey, you’ve got a great guy who is perfect for you and thinks you’re the world. You’d be crazy not to marry him. You’ve always been a way better judge of character than me, little sister.”

“Hey, none of those assholes you’ve dated are your fault Sansa. Don’t worry, I’ll set you up with one of the groomsmen, whenever we decide who they’re going to be. It’ll be great, you just said I’m a good judge of character right?” Arya chuckled. “Seriously though. It’ll all work out, you’ll find someone perfect. Probably where you least expect it, isn’t that the saying?”

Sansa snorted. “Yeah. I’ll be sure to examine the bakeries and dance studios closely in case any of those rom-com tropes pay off.”

Arya laughed and then shrieked loudly and Sansa heard a muffled Gendry put me DOWN before her sister’s voice came back into focus. “Gendry says I should let you sleep. I’m sorry again for the early call, I was kind of excited.”

“Arya, seriously, you can wake me up with that sort of news anytime, I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Sis. Okay, go to bed, I’ll send you a picture of the ring. And be on the lookout for cute guys. I’ll evaluate them for you when I get back.”

“Okay, sure, I’ll get right on that. I love you.”

“Love you too, Sissy.” 

The call cut out to the sound of Arya laughing and Sansa couldn’t help beaming. She and her sister hadn’t always got along. They were the only two girls in a family of five kids which threw them together more often than not and their personalities were too different for them not to clash. But age had tempered those differences a little, and not being constantly in each other’s presence had helped too. Large distances were hard sometimes though, and Sansa missed her sister. She knew Arya had really enjoyed the freedom of travelling over the last year, but she was really happy to be getting her sister back ahead of schedule.

Arya getting married. Sansa had thought about it, of course. Even though Arya herself had never had dreams of being a bride, she’d been dating Gendry since she was sixteen, seven years ago now. And Sansa had wondered what a wedding between the two of them, rebellious as they tended to be, would look like. But somehow she had always pictured herself already married when or if Arya walked down the aisle.

But none of her relationships, through high school or college, had even managed to be good relationships, let alone anything that could lead to marriage. 

At twenty-six Sansa felt comfortable in herself and in being single. She no longer felt, as she had when she was younger, that she needed a man to complete her life. She had a wonderful family to take care of her, great friends she could talk about anything with, and a dog who kept her company and gave her all the love she could ever hope to need. But sometimes, just sometimes, she could still feel that empty longing inside, that tightness in her chest that something told her could be cured by soft kisses, warm arms to curl up within, a heartbeat to listen to at night other than her own.

Sansa yawned deeply and rolled her eyes at the mopey spiral she had allowed herself to fall into. She was incredibly happy for Arya, but two in the morning was not the time to allow herself to muse about her own romantic life.

She stretched herself off of the couch, tucking her phone into one of the pockets of her silk robe and padded over to open the door leading into the backyard and call her dog back inside and up to bed. She jumped in shock when she saw two big dark shapes on the lawn instead of one.

The moon was out and full, so she could see decently well. Lady was hunched over, head to the ground while her butt stuck up in the air, the husky easy to see with the moonlight shining on her white and tawny coat. And in front of her, mimicking the position, was probably the biggest man Sansa had ever seen. He was on his hands and knees, hands on the ground and elbows up as he kept his face level with Lady’s, but despite his position it wasn’t hard to tell he was massive, and shrouded in shadow given all the black he was wearing.

Sansa’s heart was thumping wildly in her chest, her hands shaking slightly, and she had absolutely no idea what to do. The moonlight glinted off of a clear bottle a few feet from where the man and Lady were facing off and she hoped it was a liquor bottle because at least that might be a beginning to an explanation of this behaviour.

Her heart nearly stopped when she heard the growling. She recognized Lady’s growl, but it was the other noise that left her motionless. The man was growling back, a deep rumbling noise, and the butterflies it was causing in her stomach must be fear because anything else would be absolutely ridiculous in this situation.

She startled slightly as the man moved forward, pressing Lady backwards, and Sansa suddenly felt the need to do something. Him being in the yard was weird, but he was scaring her dog now and she couldn’t just let that happen. She pulled out her phone to call the police because maybe they could do something, but stopped when the man suddenly stopped advancing and started retreating.

As she watched for another moment or two the pattern continued, the man and the dog alternately advancing and retreating, both growling but neither actually trying to hurt the other. And then Sansa noticed Lady’s fluffy tail wagging behind her and her happy panting. They were playing. Sansa loved her dog but really, she was going to have to teach Lady to pick better playmates than random men trespassing in her backyard at two o’clock in the morning.

Sansa noticed how long the man’s hair was when he flipped it back and rose to his knees, batting playfully at Lady as she jumped and pranced around him. He seemed to be having some issues struggling to his feet, but he managed it eventually, arms akimbo to help keep his balance.

“Lady!” 

Both of their heads whipped around to face Sansa when she called her dog and while Lady was panting happily and started trotting back towards her, the sudden movement of his head seemed to have thrown off the giant man’s sense of balance and he fell hard onto his backside. There was an Oof! and some groaning before he just lay back and raised his hands to either side of his skull.

Lady immediately rushed to his rescue, licking all over his face and nosing at his temples as he murmured to her and ran his hands through the fur at her neck. Sansa hurried over as well, sorry to have caused him any pain, even if he was a strange man with no reason whatsoever to be in her backyard.

Being up close with him confirmed that he was just as big as she had thought, the muscles of his chest clearly visible even through his black t-shirt in the dark, and his arms not even covered by longer sleeves despite the slight chill of the May night.

“Are you okay?” Sansa almost reached down to touch his arm, but stopped herself at the last moment. Oddly, even though he was just as big as she had been worried about, she wasn’t particularly scared of him. That probably had something to do with his actions with Lady. If Sansa trusted Arya’s judgement about people, she trusted Lady’s even more.

There was some deep grumbling from the man lying prone in the grass. He still hadn’t opened his eyes. “Yeah, m’fine. I’ll be fine.” That assurance was followed by him sitting up abruptly, turning away from her, and retching into the garden next to his head. When that was done he flopped back down again. “Shit. Sorry.”

“No, no,” Sansa flapped her hands at him, “It’s fine.” It wasn’t really, she didn’t know how to deal with that now, not least because the smell of vomit made her want to do the same. But it wasn’t like he could do anything about it.

Lady sniffed around it for a moment and then turned to kick dirt up over the mess. Now there was a patch of torn up lawn next to the garden, but the smell was covered up and Sansa breathed more easily. She petted Lady in thanks and then turned back to the man who now had an arm thrown across his eyes. She hoped he was just resting and not unconscious because she would never be able to move him without his help.

She brought herself to touch him this time and shook his shoulder. “Hey, hey. Do you know where you are? Or how you got here? Or how to get yourself home?”

Another deep, rumbling groan – the groans were an abnormally large portion of his communicative abilities at the moment it seemed, and Sansa reminded herself strictly that the throaty noises definitely were not attractive. “A yard? Walking? Maybe?”

Sansa rolled her eyes. The alcohol was definitely evident at this point and he didn’t seem to be in any sort of shape to get himself safely home. Which meant he needed to get up so she could at least get him out of the cool and damp. But when she suggested that to him he just groaned again and said he’d sleep on the grass.

Sansa huffed in frustration. “I’m not going to let you sleep outside on the grass. But there is no way I’ll ever be able to carry you into the house. Do you think you can walk just that far?”

He raised his head just enough to look past his chest at where the house lay, some thirty feet away, and sighed. “Yes.” 

And then he turned to look at her, finally. She got a glimpse of grey eyes and some sort of puckering of the skin on the left side of his face before he groaned again and buried his face in his hands. “Oh hell.”

Sansa frowned. “What’s wrong?”

He snorted. “Just my luck ‘s’all. Bad enough disgracing myself, and in front of a woman. But I would have to do it in front of the most beautiful angel in existence.”

A wave of warmth swept through her. Never in her life had she thought she might one day be kneeling in her backyard being thoroughly charmed by a drunken stranger. But no one had ever called her something so sweet, and he was so obviously entirely without artifice. 

She blushed deeply and ducked her head. “I’m not an angel.”

When she looked at him again he was staring at her, his grey gaze piercing, holding her still. “Of course you are. I can practically see the wings sprouting from your back. If you’re not an angel maybe you’re a bird.”

He looked away from her then and Sansa had no idea what to do with any of what he had just said. So she decided to ignore it and focus on the more immediate problem of getting him into the house. “Can you get up?”

He clambered up to his feet again, just as unsteady as the previous time, and Sansa stood by though she wasn’t sure how she could help if he went over again. She was tall, but he had a good foot on her and he easily weighed twice what she did. Nevertheless she stayed at his side and rested a hand on his arm as if that would help to stabilize him. Lady stayed on the other side of him and together they guided him towards the house, negotiated the two steps up to the door and then Sansa just had to turn him slightly to let him fall onto the sofa in front of the wide window that overlooked the backyard. 

She refrained from turning any lights on, she could see well enough as it was and if his head was already hurting the addition of light wouldn’t help. So she let him rest his head against the back of the sofa while she moved into the small kitchen and poured him a glass of cool water. Leaving that with him she scurried up to the bathroom off her bedroom, grabbed her bottle of Advil, and pulled some spare blankets and a pillow from her closet.

He had finished the water by the time she returned and was holding onto the glass instead of trying to find somewhere to put it. She took it from him and refilled it, placing it on the table at one end of the couch. She held up the bottle of Advil in front of him and shook it, offering the pills, which he accepted with a nod. She shook out a couple for him, not quite trusting him not to make a mess with them in his current state, and then handed him the water, fascinated by the way his throat moved as he drained the glass again. She shook herself out of that stupor and took the glass when he handed it to her. 

Leaving the glass and the Advil on the end table, she placed the pillow on the end of the sofa closest to it and then shook out the blanket, draping it over the length of the couch, patting it slightly into place before returning to the man who was still sitting with his head laid back.

She was about to speak again but his face stopped her. With the moonlight streaming in the window she could see it relatively clearly, everything bathed in a pale blue light. He had strong features, his jaw and brow cut sharply, his eyes deep set, a nose that had been broken a few times, and startlingly soft-looking lips. But it was the marring of those features on the left side of his face that drew her attention. She wasn’t sure what the scars were from, burns possibly, but they left the surface of his skin raised and welted from his nose back into his hairline, warping that side of his mouth slightly and causing the lid of his left eye to droop somewhat. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what might have caused the damage, but she looked away before he caught her staring.

Turning her gaze back to the sofa and the blanket she had settled on it she frowned slightly. It was a full size sofa, even though she could have easily gotten away with just a loveseat given that it was really only her and Lady here most of the time. But even so, his large frame would overflow the cushions in length and probably in width as well. But it was the best she could manage at the moment so he was going to have to deal with it. She just hopped he didn’t accidentally roll himself off at any point during the night.

She cleared her throat and his head came up off the back of the sofa, that grey gaze once again fixing her in place and flooding her with warmth. “There’s a bathroom just through there,” she pointed beyond her bookcase, “in case you feel sick again. I’ll refill your water for you, but the sink and fridge are just over there if you need more later on.” She pointed in the opposite direction, towards the kitchen which was entirely open to the sitting room, blocked off only by a countertop. He was nodding when she looked back to him. “If you need anything else I’m just up the stairs next to the bathroom.” Another nod. 

She picked up his glass and padded into the kitchen to refill it from the purifying jug in the fridge, stopping to flick the lock on the back door as she walked back to the couch. She left the water next to the bottle of Advil on the end table. “Okay then. I suppose I’ll see you in the morning.”

She made her way over to the staircase to her room and turned back to call Lady, but the Husky whined and turned herself in a circle next to the sofa. Sansa giggled. “Alright then. Stay down here if you insist.” Lady yipped quietly and sat herself down next to the man who still hadn’t moved. Sansa shook her head and made her way up to bed.

*************************************************

The first floor was still fairly dark, considering it was almost eleven in the morning, when Sansa got up to make breakfast the next morning. She had made sure all the blinds were shut as tightly as they could be so that the sunlight wouldn’t disturb her drunken (and now likely hungover) guest. But the couch was empty when she looked over at it.

A soft thumping behind her alerted Sansa to Lady’s presence by the bathroom door, her tail wagging against the floor, the strip of light under the door explaining where her guest had got to. She made her way out into the kitchen and got her individual portion coffee maker set up, water in the top, vanilla flavoured coffee cup in the front, mug waiting beneath, and pressed the button to start it.

The bathroom door clicked open as the machine gurgled to life and Sansa couldn’t help looking up. Standing at his full height, much more in control of his balance than last night, and dappled with the weak sunlight that managed to filter in through the blinds he was so much more intimidating than he had been the night before. He seemed bigger in the light when his black-clad body didn’t blend into the background quite so much. The scars were more visible in this light, more real and more scary, but she didn’t let herself dwell on that, visually or mentally. His gaze had been intense the night before when he was drunk and fuzzy; sober and focused it was a physical force she had no idea how to handle.

He hadn’t exactly looked thrilled when he had emerged from the bathroom but he seemed to grow even angrier as he looked at her. She couldn’t imagine why and she wasn’t sure what to do about so she chose to ignore it and picked something innocuous to start a conversation with.

“Would you like some coffee?”

He continued to glare at her as he moved closer to the counter that divided her in the kitchen from him in the living area and all she could think was that he looked so out of place. He seemed so heavy and grave, strange inside her light and airy home.

“Do you make a habit of letting strange drunk men twice your size stay on your couch overnight?” 

He had spoken a bit last night, but it had been mostly in mumbles and groans. It certainly hadn’t prepared her for the full force of his voice when he was in full command of his speaking faculties. It was rough, like stones grinding through sand to smooth themselves out, only his voice never lost its edge.

She was affronted by the question. “Of course I don’t. Not that I’ve ever been presented with this situation before, but I couldn’t just let you stay outside.”

“I would have figured myself out eventually.”

She snorted but her voice softened slightly. “And Lady trusted you. You were kind with her, so I knew you couldn’t be all bad.”

“Ha!” His laugh was a sharp bark, a mockery rather than any true mirth. “You’ve got no idea what you’re talking about, girl.”

“Well you didn’t hurt me, did you?”

“But I could have! You shouldn’t be so damn trusting.”

The warm friendly heat that had risen in her when she first saw him that morning had transitioned into an angry fire at his accusations, but now her stomach felt like a frozen empty pit. Being too trusting had led to a fair amount of pain for her, but even so she wasn’t willing to give up on people. He had done nothing to cause her worry and even now, with what were clearly massive reserves of anger pointed at her, she felt no real threat from him. Adrenaline was rushing through her system but she wasn’t scared.

So she just fixed him with a cold stare. “I have more than enough experience with distrust, thank you very much. Now, would you like some coffee? Breakfast?”

He just stared at her, eyes narrowed, for a moment. She figured the veracity of her statement about distrust was probably written all over her face and he didn’t seem to know what to make of that. Finally his gaze dropped from hers and he turned to look at Lady, sitting ad panting happily next to him, her wagging tail smacking the back of his leg every few seconds.

“No. I need to get home. Take care of my dog.”

Sansa was oddly unsurprised; he seemed like a dog person, was obviously comfortable around Lady. “Of course.”

He made his way back to the couch and sat briefly to put his boots back on. She hadn’t even noticed that he had taken them off, but of course he must have if he wanted to sleep comfortably.

That task done he patted his pockets, presumably to make sure he had everything he came with, and she tried not to notice the sheer size of his hands.

When he looked up at her again she made her way to the front door and held it open for him. He almost brushed straight past her but seemed to stop himself at the last moment. He turned back to her but kept his face averted.

“Thank you. For letting me stay here. And for taking care of me. It was . . . kind of you. Foolish and stupid. But kind.”

Sansa rolled her eyes but grinned and held out her hand. “Sansa Stark.”

His gaze rose to hers again and he took the hand she had offered, his palm engulfing hers entirely. “Sandor Clegane.”

He looked at her for a moment more and then let her hand drop. He nodded and turned out the door again, heading down her short driveway to the street and making a left without turning to look back.

She turned back into the house and shut the door, scritching the top of Lady’s head briefly before heading to her waiting mug of coffee.

Sansa had no idea whether she would see him again, no clue if there was any reason they would come across each other again. But she hoped they would.

Arya had said to look somewhere unexpected after all and this certainly qualified.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry that I took so long to update this. My thanks to anyone who is still reading this, you're amazing to put up with me!
> 
> Sansa's outfit in this chapter looks like this: http://www.polyvore.com/sansa_in_drunk/set?id=152448792

Sandor snorted and rolled over as something cold and wet brushed over his face. But rolling over just left room for the dog to hop up onto the bed, and the Rottweiler/Pitbull mutt was heavy enough to make a significant dip in the mattress. Sandor groaned and looked over at his alarm clock. The bright green numbers informed him it wasn’t even three in the morning yet.

“What can you possibly want this early?”

A rumbling from the pup’s barrel chest was his only answer.

Sandor sighed deeply and pushed the covers off of himself, swinging his legs over the side of the mattress. The dog jumped off of the bed and headed out the bedroom door and down the stairs. Sandor grabbed the t-shirt he never actually wore to bed and followed along, rolling his eyes when the mutt came to a stop by the front door.

“You’ve never asked to go out this early.” He stared down into warm brown eyes. “Even when you were a baby.” Happy panting was the only response. “Fine. Go on.” He pulled the door open and left it ajar as he went to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

When he made his way back to the front door and looked outside for his dog he was completely baffled and yet somehow unsurprised by what he saw. The dog was lying on the grass with the girl from a few weeks ago curled up between his legs, one of her arms draped over his neck, her head resting against his as she whispered to him. Sansa Stark. 

Sandor could barely remember most of what happened that night beyond nearly passing out on her lawn before actually passing out on her sofa. But he could strongly remember feeling like an utter idiot for embarrassing himself so thoroughly in front of someone so utterly exquisite. 

She was clearly the drunk one this time, sprawled as she was on the grass and over his dog, but even so he could hardly imagine she would be less than perfection. 

When he called the dog she turned to face him as well. A bright smile slid over her face and she was just as beautiful as he remembered, hair all shiny and radiant like spun copper, blue eyes that twinkled in the light from the porch, lips red and lush. He remembered calling her an angel that night and he didn’t disagree with himself now.

He didn’t think he was the sort of man who could be made breathless by anything, certainly not by a pretty girl. But her smile tightened his chest in the strangest way and he had to take a moment to shake himself free of whatever spell she managed to get over him.

“Wizard, come on.” He whistled and the pup’s tail thumped against the ground but instead of getting up and obeying the order he whined and nosed into Sansa’s hair. And then she turned back to coo at him and pet him and there was no way he’d be leaving her any time soon.

Sandor rolled his eyes and made his way over to them and sank down so that his face would be on a level with Sansa’s if she sat up rather than lounging all over the should-be-scary dog who was clearly in love with her. 

“You said his name is Wizard?” she asked as she turned back to him again. He nodded and she smiled. “He’s beautiful.”

Sandor snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure he appreciates that. Look, it’s up to you now. He’s not going to come inside without you.” He allowed himself a cursory inspection of all the skin left bare by her frankly tiny dress – and the goosebumps he could see covering her arms and legs even in the dim light. “And I’m thinking he’s probably right not to leave you.” He gestured at the tiny bumps.

Sansa’s eyes widened as she looked down and ran her hands over her arms as if fascinated by the texture. He definitely didn’t need to let his thoughts get in line with anything about touching her. A smile spilled over her lips again and she giggled. “I didn’t even notice.”

Okay, so under the ‘how drunk is Sansa Stark’ question he could definitely check the ‘pretty drunk’ box.

He stood and held his hands out to her, she took them and he pulled her up. Sansa was a tall girl under any circumstances but the heels of her shoes brought her even closer to his own six and a half feet. They also helped to tip her forward towards his chest before she managed to get her balance. If he had used just a little more force to pull her up she probably would have had to brace her hands against his chest so she didn’t fall into him. He chose to ignore that thought as well. 

She stumbled slightly as she started moving towards the house and the open door and he moved to help her as her arms shot out from her sides to balance herself. She turned around and pointed at him accusingly. “That’s not the alcohol.” The accusing finger moved to point downwards. “It’s the grass. It’s all roll-y and soft. So inconvenient.” The last statement was mumbled, clearly not a new annoyance, and he couldn’t help the deep laugh that rolled through him. It was just such a ridiculous thing to say, such a ridiculous problem to have.

To her credit though, she was entirely stable once she reached the flat surface of the stone walkway leading to the door. Wizard had already trotted after her and Sandor was about to follow when something glinted in the grass. He bent down to pick up her handbag – a dainty thing, bright red and barely bigger than his palm with a gold link strap – and followed his dog and his sudden houseguest inside.

Sansa had already made herself at home, sitting on his sofa with the blanket that had lain over the back of it wrapped around her shoulders, the lamp next to her turned on to its lowest setting. He locked everything up again and made his way over to her. He passed her the small bag he’d picked up and she beamed up at him in thanks.

“If you’re feeling alright I can take you home.”

She frowned at him. “How would you do that?”

He chuckled at her genuine confusion. “I may have been too drunk to remember how I got to your place the last time, but I was sober enough the next morning to remember how I left.”

“Oh.” Her eyes widened and she nodded. “That makes sense.”

He waited for her to actually respond to his offer, but she just continued to stare at him silently. He opened his mouth to offer her a ride home again, or to suggest she have someone come pick her up if she preferred, but before he could say anything she stood up suddenly and lurched just past him before bending over and throwing up on the floor.

Well. At least he’d had the decency to vomit outside. Chalk that up to the one time in history where he had managed more politesse than Miss Stark. Still, she had missed the rug under the coffee table and the blanket around her shoulders was still clean.

He gathered her hair away from her face and held it back until she stood up again. She scrubbed her mouth with the back of her hand and visibly hunched into herself before daring to look at him again. Her face was absolutely mortified.

“I am so sorry.” 

She looked like she was about to cry but he just shook his head and lead her into the kitchen. He wet a paper towel for her and she wiped off her hand and then her mouth, staining the tissue red with lipstick before he took it and tossed it in the trash. Then he got her a glass and turned on the tap to let her rinse her mouth out.

“I think this means you’d best stay here and sleep this off.”

She had finished rinsing her mouth and was sipping from the freshly filled glass. Her eyes were wide and slightly teary as she looked up at him. “Are you sure? I don’t want to impose or be in your way. I’m sorry.”

Sandor just sighed. “You’re fine, girl. It’s alright.”

Sansa set her glass down on the counter and headed for the doorway into the living area but she didn’t get far before stumbling and falling back to catch herself heavily on the counter.

“Okay.” Sandor caught her and braced her against his chest, ready to move her over to the sink if she needed to throw up again.

Instead she yawned and leaned further into him. “I’m so tired. The couch is so far away. These shoes hurt.”

Again he couldn’t help the laugh that rumbled out of him. “Alright, up you go.” He swept her up into his arms. “Time for bed, I think.”

Wizard was sniffing around the puddle Sansa had left on the floor in the living room, but he followed after Sandor as he headed up the stairs to his bedroom.

The second floor only had two rooms: bathroom and bedroom. He strode past the first and pushed wide the door to the second. The covers on the bed were still a bit rumpled from earlier so he set her feet on the ground, bracing her again with his body, as he pulled back blanket and sheet and flicked on the bedside light. He got her settled against the pillows and took a seat on the other end of the bed, pulling her feet into his lap.

He didn’t look at her as he fiddled with the delicate straps of her red heels. He felt bad about undressing her at all but she would be uncomfortable trying to sleep in the things, and more importantly he didn’t want her falling or twisting her ankle or something if she had to get up in the night. So the shoes were going to come off, but he wasn’t going to look at her or acknowledge anything about the warmth and softness of her skin. Not noticing.

The little straps were clearly meant for more delicate fingers than his, but he eventually got both shoes off of Sansa’s feet and placed them on the floor next to his end of the bed so she wouldn’t trip on them by accident. He moved her feet off of his lap and under the covers before he risked looking up into her face.

She was a little too focused on him. Her eyes a little too warm as they gazed into his, one hand resting against her collarbone. It was a little too close, especially with the low light of the lamp casting such an intimate aura around them. He finished tucking her in and stepped away quickly as he cleared his throat.

“So the bathroom is just down the hall if you need it. I’ll leave the hall light on for you.” He tried to remember what she had left when she had been taking care of him. “And I’ll bring you some water. I – uh, don’t have any Advil, though. Is there anything else you need?”

“You called me a bird.”

Well, that could be the answer to some question, but not the one he’d just asked. “I’m sorry, what?”

“Last time. When I said I wasn’t an angel. You said I was bird.”

He vaguely remembered something about that. Had no idea why he’d said it though.

“I wish I was a bird. I wish I could fly.”

He walked closer and let himself take her hand in his. She pulled their joined hands up to her face and rested her cheek against the back of his hand. Again with the warm, smooth skin. He cleared his throat. “Doesn’t everyone?”

She looked up at him seriously. And then just smiled brightly as if his simple answer had solved all the problems of the world.

“You need to sleep now. I’ll be back with water.” He hurried out of the room and down to the kitchen, pulling out one of his larger reusable water bottles and filling it from the tap before heading upstairs again.

Sansa was on her side and her eyes were closed when he stepped back into the bedroom, so he left the water bottle on the table right in front of her and shut of the lamp. He stepped quietly out of the room, shutting the door most of the way behind him and flicking on the overhead hall light before returning downstairs to deal with the mess on the floor. It was strange how . . . nice it was to be taking care of someone. And strange how her belief and trust in him didn’t make him angry. It just made him feel . . . accepted.

While he was cleaning up and getting a makeshift bed set up on the couch he heard a bit of muffled banging around, a toilet flushing, and some more banging, but then Sansa seemed to settle and he did too. It was nice falling asleep with someone else in the house.

***********************************************

Despite the interlude in the middle of the night, Sandor was still up with the sun. He let Wizard out into the backyard instead of heading out for their usual run in case Sansa needed something and he was out. Except for being in pajamas, because all of his clothes were up in that room with her, the rest of his routine was normal. He showered while the machine percolated the coffee, worked his way through a cup of it while he fried up some ham and cut up a large bowl of fruit. And then poured another mug-full as he started on the toast and the eggs.

He glanced up as he heard a creaking from the stairs. He hadn’t expected Sansa to get up this early, but clearly the smell of food was too great a temptation.

Oh.

Apparently some of the banging from last night had been her rummaging through his dresser because she was wearing one of his shirts. Way too big for her, it looked like it fell further down her thighs than her dress had managed last night. Though her bare legs and feet meant it wasn’t exactly more proper.

She twirled a piece of hair around a finger nervously as he stared at her. “Sorry about the shirt, I was just really uncomfortable in the dress. This seemed like a great alternative. I’m really sorry I went through your things though – I didn’t quite realize I was doing that last night.”

“Uhm. Uh, no. No, it’s fine.” It was terrible. The shirt was going to smell like her now. “Uh, would you like some coffee? Breakfast? I have cereal as well if you don’t want any of this.” Well look at him with the hospitality.

“Yes, thank you! This looks amazing!” She scooted past him and took one of the seats at the tiny two-person kitchen table.

He poured out another mug of coffee and brought it over to her. “Milk? Sugar?”

“Both, please.” She smiled at him and he fetched the additives back to the table and then went and brought back all of the food as well as two plates and some utensils.

Breakfast was relatively quiet as they worked their way through the food and another cup of coffee each.

Sansa sighed happily as she finally pushed her plate away. “That was wonderful. Thank you, Sandor. And, uh, thanks for last night.” She blushed and ducked her head, raking her hair out of her face. “I didn’t really mean to impose on you. I was out with friends downtown and I guess I was more drunk than I thought.”

“How did you end up here? They didn’t just leave you on a stranger’s front lawn, did they?”

Sansa chuckled. “No. I took a cab by myself. I told them I was going home.”

“So why did you come here.”

She raised her eyes to his and shrugged. “It seemed like a good idea. I think I missed you.” She waved her hands in front of herself as if to ward off any response he might make. “I know that’s ridiculous. We’d only met once, and barely talked. But, I don’t know, it just seemed like the thing to do to tell the cab driver to bring me here.” She blushed and turned away again.

As he thought about that for a moment Sandor frowned. “Wait. How did you know this address? I never told it to you.”

Her fingers were picking at a spot on the table and her eyes were fixed on the same place as she spoke softly. “I looked you up after you left my place. Just in case I needed your number for . . . I don’t know, something. Frankly I’m surprised I remembered the information.”

She was still staring and picking at the table, so he didn’t feel quite so awkward letting his gaze rest on her for a moment. “Right.” He let the silence drag for a few seconds. “Well, I suppose it’s about time to bring you home. I’m sure your pup will be anxious to see you.”

She sighed. As if she might be sad to leave? “Her name is Lady. And yes, she will be.”

“I’ll just grab some clothes from my bedroom and then you can use it to change. Unless –” he broke off for a second and had to clear his throat again. “Unless you’d like to shower first?”

Her eyes darted up to his and for a second he thought she was going to accept. Which would be just great. Her in his bed and in his shirt was one thing, her being naked in his shower was going to push this to a whole new level of uncomfortable memories.

But then she shook her head. “Thanks, I’d love to. But I should be getting back to Lady and I would just have to put that dress back on in any case so I’ll wait until I get home. I appreciate the offer, though.”

She smiled and he nodded stupidly. “Of course.”

And because he didn’t know what else to say Sandor just spun on his heel and headed up the stairs, making quick work out of finding boxers, socks, black jeans, and a t-shirt emblazoned with some band name, he didn’t check which one.

He nearly bowled Sansa over as headed into the hall with his pile. “Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry.” She smiled. “Stay here and get changed, I’ll use the bathroom.”

She didn’t really give him time to refute her as she darted past him, grabbed her dress and her shoes, and ducked back past him into the hallway. She grinned and waved and shut the door of the bathroom behind her.

Shaking his head, Sandor shut the bedroom door and changed quickly, divesting himself of the pjs and throwing on the new stuff in two minutes flat. Sansa was still in the bathroom when he opened up his door again so he headed back down to wait on the couch.

When she came down a couple of minutes later she was back in the dress and the shoes, still looking as amazing as she had last night, and she had washed her face. She was carrying his folded up shirt. “I wasn’t sure where you wanted this.”

He took it from her. “Thanks. I’ll put it away when I get back.” He laid it on the arm of the sofa. “Shall we?” He waved towards the door.

“Of course, just a moment.” She bent down to the dog waiting patiently at their feet and proceeded to lavish him with even more attention than he had received last night, hugs and kisses and praises galore. Eventually she stood up. “Okay, we can go now.”

Sandor just smiled and led her into the garage, locking up behind himself.

“Oh my God. Can we take that?”

He followed her gaze and grinned as he saw she had focused on the Harley. And wow, the image of her astride it, hanging on to him? Amazing.

His first instinct was to say yes, but then he took a second look at the tiny dress she had on again. “I don’t really think you’d enjoy it wearing that.” She pouted but he refused to budge. He was a good driver, but if he messed up for any reason? All that exposed skin? She would be ripped to shreds. “You need jeans at least.”

“Can I take a rain cheque then? For a day where I’m more properly dressed?” 

Her smile was coy now, and he shook his head, baffled that she so clearly wanted to spend time with him. But he couldn’t refuse. “It’s a date.” The smile and the blush that lit her face made his heart seize in his chest. Seven hells she was beautiful. He cleared his throat and pointed past the motorcycle. “It’s the car for today, though.”

The trip back to her place didn’t take long and after the car was parked in her driveway he found himself getting out so that he could help her out of the car like the gentleman he had never bothered trying to be before.

“Thank you.” She blushed again as he gave her his hand and steadied her as she stood up. “And thank you again for taking such good care of me last night. I really do appreciate it. Oh, and for breakfast this morning, of course.”

He nodded. “You’re very welcome.”

He closed the car door and started to head back around the hood to the driver’s side.

“Wait!” Sansa still hadn’t moved from beside the car and she was blushing heavily again. “Could I see your phone for a second?”

Sandor frowned. “What for?” he asked, even as he started reaching into his pocket for it.

She smiled slightly. “I have to give you my number so I can take you up on that date.”

He laughed and called up the new contact screen in his phone and handed it over, leaning his hip against the grill of the car as she input her information. The phone that was put in his hands a minute later wasn’t his.

Sansa blushed again as he took her shiny pink phone. “So I’ll know it’s you.”

He couldn’t help smiling as he plugged in his name and number and handed it back, receiving his heavy black phone back in return.

“So, uh, I’ll text you,” she said as she started backing towards her front door, “and we’ll figure out a time?”

Sandor nodded.

“And I’ll wear jeans. And a jacket.” She said strictly.

Sandor laughed deeply. “Yeah, Little Bird. We’ll fly.”


End file.
